text:
Marcus Lee, a rising senior out of Deer Valley (CA), has blasted onto the scene over the last six months, establishing himself as one of the top big men in the class of 2013. Boasting a 7'1.5" wingspan, the wiry 6'9" Lee uses that length well to protect the paint. Driving much of the attention has been Lee's excellent summer on the hardwood.
Marcus never imagined he would receive the attention he has, even as his game has blossomed. He is extremely gracious for all the help his brother Brian has given him in the recruiting process. For Marcus, Brian has been the rock that he has needed to help him navigate the challenging recruiting process.
Lee recently arranged his final official visits, and is expected to make an official visit to Duke on October 27.
The bouncy big man was gracious enough to give BDN some time to discuss his recent trip to UCLA, his impressions of Coach K, and his relationship with his brother, among other topics.
BlueDevilNation: Being a west coast guy, it must be an honor to represent the west side out here in the Elite 24.
Marcus Lee: Oh yeah. It was a great honor once I got the invite. It was just a real add-on to summer. The summer was great.
BDN: Do you feel you had a good summer and played as well as possible?
ML: Yeah, I think I had a real great summer this year, and yeah, I tried as hard as possible and just tried to [private] get it done this year.
BDN: Your recruitment really blew up this summer. Did you ever imagine all of this?
ML: (laughing) Uh, no, I never imagined all of this. It all came as a big surprise once it all started.
BDN: You had a chance to visit UCLA recently. Can you go over that trip?
ML: It was a pretty great visit. The gym that's about to open will be crazy.
BDN: Pauley Pavilion?
ML: Yeah, yeah.
BDN: There's a perception about kids leaving the west coast. Do you feel you fall under that at all?
ML: No, not at all. I feel like I'm able, I feel like I'm a chameleon and can adapt to wherever I go.
BDN: As with most recruits, their families hope to be able to watch them when they play. Will it be important for yours to be able to attend the games?
ML: Yeah, it'll be very important. It's great to have your family and friends there to support you.
BDN: Do you feel like it's a deciding factor?
ML: Uh, I don't know yet. (laughs) We'll see when we get there.
BDN: You've set a bunch of your in-home visits recently. Have you had a chance to set up the Duke one yet?
ML: Umm, I don't think so.
Brian Lee: No, we haven't set it yet.
BDN: You were at the Lebron camp this summer and got to see the USA National team practice. Can you describe that experience?
ML: Yeah, it was great. We watched them scrimmage and it wasn't like high school. They were going after each other like they were playing a real game.
BDN: Going back to Duke, do they have a pitch they're selling you?
ML: No, they don't really have a pitch. It's just us talking together, trying to learn more about each other.
BDN: Were you able to keep in contact with Coach K while he was in London?
ML: Yeah, a little bit. We talked in an out. Probably mostly through text messages because it was harder to call.
BDN: You said recently that he's really energetic. Could you describe that?
ML: Just in his voice you can hear it. You can hear that he's excited about basketball, he's excited about the team. He just has that passion. He's always excited.
BDN: How would you describe how he approaches you? Is it more like a friend or a teacher, or a coach?
ML: He approaches me as a teacher. I see him as a real great teacher that I can learn from.
BDN: Tell me about your relationship with your brother. Obviously he's a major influence in your life.
ML: He's the brain of everything. He gets me here on time, he figures everything out. He's also my consultant. He'll talk to me throughout the year and . . .
BDN: Keeps you level-headed?
ML: YES! He does everything.
BDN: What are you hoping to see when you go on your visits?
ML: Something to catch my eye. I don't really know what it is, but I just know once I see it something will tell me to go here.
BDN: Is family atmosphere important for you?
ML: Yes, family atmosphere is extremely important.
BDN: Will you be staying at Deer Valley this year?
ML: Yeah, I'm staying at Deer Valley.
BDN: OK, just because there had been rumors in the past.
ML: (laughs) No, I'm repping Deer Valley until I die.
BDN: Do you feel like you have to be more vocal or is that something that comes naturally to you?
ML: I don't believe I can get any more vocal than I already am. I don't think anybody can get more vocal than me. It's just the way I am. It just happens naturally. I don't know where it comes from.
BDN: Do you feel there`s a difference between your role in AAU and high school?
ML: There really isn't a difference. It's just that in high school I have to make sure everybody is on the same page, whereas on AAU, I already know for sure they're on the same page.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Marcus.
ML: All right. Thank you. [/private]


text:
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While the Manatee County Sheriff's Office encourages citizens to report legitimate complaints of misconduct, it also assumes and expects that citizens will not file frivolous, vindictive or false complaints against employees who have properly performed their duties. State law forbids the intentional filing of a false report to law enforcement and also prohibits anyone from lying under oath.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
kids throwing coins in garbage
photo by Narith5 at flickr.com
Yesterday, I went to the mall. (What can I say? I got one of those free panty coupons from Victoria Secret, so I made the trek.) Of course, I wound up in one store and then another, and somehow I found myself inside Abercrombie and Fitch for kids. I confess, I had never been in that particular store before, but my son's 11th birthday is coming up, and I was lured in with the promise of a BIG SALE inside.
Once I made it to the back of the store (where they apparently hide the BIG SALE items), I met a blond-haired, 13-year old boy who was also shopping the sale rack.
"These are a good deal," he said enthusiastically pointing at a brownish pair of distressed shorts with a thick belt. "Only $19.99," he continued. "It's, like, unheard of in here." I told the boy – let's call him Spaulding – that I'd never been in the store before and he took me under his protective, scrappy, teenage-wing and showed me what he considered to be the best deals.
After Spaulding happily made his purchase, he received a lovely, thick bag with substantial navy fabric handles. He also received $0.79 cents in change.
"You can keep the change," he announced, grabbing his bag.
"I can't," said the cashier. "I'm not allowed to put it in the drawer. It messes up accounting at the end of the day."
"Well, just keep it then," insisted Spaulding.
"I'm not allowed to do that," the employee protested, placing Spaulding's coins on the table in front of her.
Spaulding grabbed the coins and looked around. He quickly located a tiny garbage can near the check-out desk – where people who have sprayed samples of cologne toss their tiny unwanted paper squares of fragrance, and he threw his change in the garbage.
My jaw dropped.
I could not believe that I had witnessed a kid throwing out a few dimes short of a dollar.
Once, when I was about 10 years old, I made the mistake of tossing out a few pennies while emptying out a junk drawer, and my father gave me a lecture that I would never forget. It started generally – how people come to this country with big dreams and nothing in their pockets – and moved to the specific at which point he explained that he worked his ass off every day to make sure that our family had everything that we needed, and he'd be damned if I was going to be so ungrateful and selfish (*insert in a few million more shameful terms here*) as to throw away money, even a penny, when there were people starving all over the world, people who would love to have my pennies. Let's just say, the speech made a major impression.
Meanwhile, back at the mall, I couldn't help myself. I retrieved Spaulding's coins and prepared to go on a hunt to find him.
He hadn't gone far as he was, in fact, sitting on a bench right in front of Abercrombie & Fitch for kids.
"Excuse me," I started. "I don't mean to be all stalker-y. . . but I got your change for you."
Spaulding looked bewildered.
"Oh," he said, "I didn't want it."
I must have looked at him as if he had grown a second head because he added, "I don't have a place to put them," he shrugged. "I mean, no pockets or anything."
He explained he'd brought his $25 to the mall stashed in his left sock.
I asked him if he received an allowance, and he said that he did.
"Ten dollars a week," he said for making his bed, putting his dishes in the dishwasher, and doing his homework. He added that sometimes he didn't get the full amount if he didn't do everything he was supposed to do, but most of the time his parents just gave him the full amount because it was easiest to give him a $10 bill rather than have him argue with them, which he would inevitably do.
I couldn't help myself.
I lectured him.
I explained to him that our economy is a train-wreck, that people have lost their jobs and their homes and cars; that folks can't pay their bills or afford to send their kids to college. I told him that in extreme cases people are eating out of dumpsters, that they would have loved to have had his loose change.
"I get that you don't have pockets, but how about you just put the change in there," I pointed at his new A&F bag and noisily deposited the coins inside.
Spaulding shrugged. "I didn't think about it," he said in earnest. "Honestly, I just don't like change."
"Listen," I said, trying not to get all preachy because I work with students and I know that preachy tone doesn't work, but – again – I couldn't help myself. "I'm guessing that your parents work really hard for that money and they would not be thrilled to know that you are throwing away your allowance. When you go home, get a mug or a bowl – some kind of container that you like – and just start throwing your spare change in there. You'll be amazed at how fast it adds up. And if you really don't want the change, make a wish and toss it in one of the fountains because that money goes to charity." I paused dramatically. "Just don't throw your money in the garbage, okay?"
I turned my back on Spaulding or Trevor or Hunter or whatever his real name was and returned to the store where I asked the cashier is she had ever seen anything like what had just happened.
"Like what?" she asked absently.
"Like kids choosing to leave their change behind rather than take it? Like kids literally throwing their money away?"
"Oh that," said the cashier, looking more than a little bored. "It happens all the time. Probably every day."
I was horrified, and I made it my mission to ask a few more cashiers to see if what I had witnessed in one store was just a weird anomaly to be discounted or if it was truly as commonplace as the bored Abercrombie girl made it sound. I wish I could say it was a one-time thing, but I was astounded to learn that every single checkout person reported that he or she had been in a situation where people had elected to leave their change behind rather than take it.
What is going on? Spaulding doesn't like carrying coins? You've got to be kidding me? I'm telling you, this boy was a kind, decent boy. But he is obviously also a spoiled, entitled boy who has grown up with little sense of gratitude or appreciation. He receives $10 a week for doing things some folks would consider expected household chores. And he gets his money whether he does them all or not. Young Spaulding clearly knows how to work his parents.
I'm worried. These young people are making their way into our work force, ill prepared for its realities. They expect praise and rewards for performing routine tasks. I see them in my classroom at my community college already; they expect A's, even if their product is mediocre. A colleague recently remarked that today's young people expect "a trophy for simply showing up." Clearly, many children of this "gift-card" generation do not understand the idea of saving one's coins, or delaying gratification. How could they when their parents have given them everything they could possibly want? In fact, they have been given so much, they don't even need to keep the change.
What have we done? Why did we do it?


text:
# Permission to use this software for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted
# Distribution of this software for any purpose is subject to:
# - the expressed, written consent of the author
# - the inclusion of the present copyright notice in all copies.
Please UPGRADE to this latest version 1.4 if you run SU 2018.
The concept behind GhostComp is to associate a simplified version to a component (called Ghost). Then the script provides an easy way to switch back and forth between the Ghost version and the Real version in the model. The idea is that in many situations, switching heavy and complex components to their Ghost version would make the model view lighter to manipulate during the design phase (for orbiting, copying, etc…).
Note : I just realized that the concept had been introduced independently, but earlier, by AdamB, under the name of Proxy, in his LightUp plugin. So, I wanted everyone to know.
This is an experimental concept, and frankly, I don't know if it really fits any practical design workflow with high-poly models. If it does, then I think it should better be implemented in the native Sketchup application than in Ruby (if the Google SU team has time of course).
In version 1.1, the 'simplified' Ghost version can be generated as:
- the Bounding Box of the top level component (so just 6 faces)
- the Bounding Boxes of the top level component and its subcomponents, hierarchically
- a Wireframe of the component
- a Simplified copy of the component (keeping a limited number of the largest faces)
- a Frozen copy of the component (useful before performing poly-greedy transformation such as RoundCorner or Subdivide & Smooth)
Under the cover, GhostComp uses a hidden layer to maintain copies of the original components and their Ghost versions. Unfortunately, as there is no way to hide component definitions, you'll see the Ghost component definitions in the Component browser. Note that GhostComp does not touch, modify or delete the original components.
Just drop the attached PDF file into the SU Plugins directory to have it accessible from within Sketchup.
- Sketchup: v6 to SU2018 – works better with v8 M2 and above
- Platform: Windows and Mac
- Language: English, French, Chinese
- Menus: by default, it is installed in Tools > Fredo6 Collection > GhostComp
- Icon toolbar: by Default 'Ghost Comp. At first installation all 10 icons are shown. You can then configure which icon you wish to include in the toolbar from the Default Parameters…).
There is an alternative toolbar by DJMX1 - The plugin is free, for private and commercial usage. There is a donation menu however.
There are now multiple ways to install scripts
- SCF Plugin Store (SU8 and SU13) - recommended method
- Unzip (all SU versions and for installations in an alternate Plugins directory)
- Extension Manager with RBZ files (SU8 and SU13)
Whatever way you install, you must end up with the following footprint:
The standard SU Plugins root directories are:
Windows SU8: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins
Windows SU13: C:\Program Files\SketchUp\SketchUp 2013/Plugins
Windows SU14: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins
Mac SU8: Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins
Mac SU13: ~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2013/SketchUp/Plugins
Mac SU14: ~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2014/SketchUp/Plugins
CAUTION: NEVER rename or move files from their folders. If you are unsure of your unzip operation, do it in a neutral folder and check that you reconstruct the right footprint. Then transfer the folders and files to the SU Plugin Directory.
If you run SU8, SU13 or SU14, the strongly recommended installation method is to Autoinstall with the SCF Plugin Store tool.
Otherwise, you can download the GhostComp rbz file from the Plugin Store page for GhostComp.
IMPORTANT: Requires to download LibFredo6 8.6 or higher if not already installed
Note for SU6 and SU7 users, download the rbz file from the plugin store page, and change its extension from .rbz to .zip
1) Open the zip archive
2) Select All (Ctrl A)
3) Extract into the Sketchup Plugin Directory
4) Answer YES to OVERWRITE all existing files if any
5) Make sure you get the correct footprint (one rb file and one folder)
CONFLICTING PLUGINS: some plugins conflicts with some of my scripts
- Some versions of Podium
- SunPosition
- Matchbox
Here is a video showing GhostComp in action.
GhostComp 1.4a – 31 Oct 18: Maintenance release and certification SU2018
GhostComp 1.3a – 13 Nov 15: Maintenance release
GhostComp 1.2a – 20 Oct 14: Release for non-ascii usernames
GhostComp 1.1a – 27 Nov 13: Release for future Sketchup Compatibility
GhostComp 1.0a – 26 Nov 09: Initial public release


text:
AT&T has withdrawn a key piece of its bid for T-Mobile. Though the move is said to be temporary, the massive merger is in serious trouble.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has suggested for weeks that it had big problems with AT&T's $39 billion buyout of T-Mobile USA. On November 22, the FCC made its displeasure even clearer, forwarding the entire merger to an administrative law judge for review and demanding that AT&T prove the deal would be in the public interest.
Instead of doing this, AT&T has decided to take its ball and go home. Yesterday, the company withdrew its FCC application.
AT&T and T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom insisted in a statement (PDF) that the withdrawal would be temporary and that, "as soon as practical, AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG intend to seek the necessary FCC approval."
What will they be doing in the meantime? Fighting off an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice, the other government agency reviewing the deal. The companies will "focus their continuing efforts on obtaining antitrust clearance for the transaction from the Department of Justice either through the litigation pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 1:11-cv-01560 (ESH) or alternate means."
AT&T will also take a pretax charge of $4 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of this year—a move which accounts for the "breakup fee" it owes Deutsche Telekom if the deal falls apart.
Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn, who has opposed the merger from the start, said today in a statement that "the chances that AT&T will take over T-Mobile are almost gone.... AT&T's move will, for the moment, prevent the FCC from making public its many, well-documented findings that the deal is not in the public interest and will prevent the judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuit from seeing the FCC's conclusions. Those findings would be the subject of the large and complex administrative hearing and process that AT&T would still need to survive in order to complete the $39 billion transaction."
Another opponent, the Media Access Project, called the move a "turkey" that is "too big to be hidden by releasing it on Thanksgiving. It is an act of desperation which will only hurt their shareholders by delaying the inevitable. It is time for vainglorious managers at AT&T to accept that there is no way that this deal can obtain approval of the FCC and the courts."


text:
What's the (Real) Name of the Capital of Thailand?
Bangkok, right?
Wrong. We've traveled to the Thai capital city many times, but this was the first time we discovered the full, real name of Bangkok is... well, see for yourself. It's a mouthful!
And a very beautiful description of one of South-East Asia's most popular and colorful cities.
Start your Trip!
Start your Trip


text:
Lotus needs Maldonado's 'financial support' – boss
Pastor Maldonado – have check will drive |
(GMM) Lotus has admitted for the first time that Pastor Maldonado will boost the Enstone based team's coffers in 2014.
Earlier, Venezuelan Maldonado said there was no guarantee his departure from Williams would mean his lucrative backer PDVSA will follow him to his next F1 team.
And when Lotus announced that the 28-year-old is arriving to replace Kimi Raikkonen for 2014, it made no mention of the Venezuelan oil giant's millions.
But team boss Eric Boullier always said the not-significantly-sponsored Nico Hulkenberg was actually Lotus' first choice to fill the driver vacancy.
And the Frenchman on Friday was quoted as saying Maldonado's signing indeed comes with "financial support".
Lotus has reportedly been struggling to pay staff and develop its 2014 car, and Raikkonen departed for Ferrari declaring that he was not paid a single euro.
Not signing the highly rated Hulkenberg was interpreted as a sign that the much-vaunted 'Quantum' buy-in deal had finally failed, leaving Lotus heavily reliant on Maldonado's cash.
"We are still confident something is going to happen," Boullier, referring to Quantum, told the British broadcaster Sky. "But timing is an issue.
"Obviously there is a financial support with Pastor, which in these days we may need. And unfortunately, as I said before, timing is an issue.
"We have to deliver a car in less than eight weeks now," he added.
Boullier, however, suggested it is wrong simply to write off Maldonado as a pay-driver, having delivered a pole and race win to Williams just last year.
"Maybe there is still some fine-tuning to do with him," he acknowledged.
"I think we just need to make sure he can keep his focus — actually similar issues we had with Romain (Grosjean) last year.
"I'm sure that with the proper support and team around him, we can do something nice with Pastor," added Boullier.


text:
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Designing X-Tractor Fume Control Environment
Regulate Speed Control to Reduce Energy Costs
Filter Replacement for Fume Extraction
Controlling Manganese Exposure
Grounding and Arc Welding Safety
Controlling Welding Fumes
Variables that Affect Weld Penetration
Weld Fusion vs. Weld Penetration
Constant Current vs. Constant Voltage Output
Common Shielding Gases for Arc Welding
Minimizing Risk in Offshore SAW
Visual Weld Inspection Video
Work Lead Connections
Nondestructivie Weld Examination
Reduce Welding Costs - 10 Steps
What is Preheat?
Basic Welding Terms
Arc Welding Fundamentals
Determine Tactile Seam Tracking System Application
Tactile Seam Tracking Systems
Reduce Energy Consumption
Checkpoint Production Monitoring
Inverter Power Source
Inverter Based Power Sources
SMAW and the Boy Scout Welding Merit Badge Video
SMAW Troubleshooting Video
Low Hydrogen SMAW Electrodes
AWS D1.1 Overhead Welding Test Video - Part 3
AWS D1.1 Overhead Welding Test Video - Part 2
AWS D1.1 Overhead Welding Test Video - Part 1
Low X-Factor
Added Low Hydrogen Designators
AC/DC Understanding Polarity
Weld Crater Shrinkage Cavities
Aluminum Feeding Issues
Weld Cracking
Power MIG Family Video
GMAW and the Boy Scout Welding Merit Badge Video
Feeding Wire in a Portable MIG Video
SP-140T Troubleshooting Video
GMAW Troubleshooting Video
Tandem MIG Process
GMAW vs FCAW-S Process
MIG Welding Stainless Steel
MIG Problems and Remedies
11 Tips for Welding Aluminum in Shipbuilding
Indalco and Aluminum Welding-Wire Production
Cleaning Aluminum Video
Aluminum Welding
TIG Welding Thin Aluminum Video
Pulsed MIG vs. Traditional CV Power?
Aluminum: Experience in Application
Flux-Cored Welding Guns
Special Considerations with FCAW-S Electrodes
Choosing a Shielding Gas for Flux-Cored Welding
FCAW-S Basics: Fast, No Gas Cylinders Required
Percentage of Argon in Mixed Shielding Gas Does Matter
Flux-Cored Electrodes Usability Designators
The Evolution of FCAW-G Electrodes
FCAW-S and the Boy Scout Welding Merit Badge Video
FCAW-S Troubleshooting Video
Flux-Cored Wires on CC Machines
FCAW: Cored Wires Overview
C Series Weld Heads Video
Benefits of Invertec V205-T Video
Repairing Tools with 312 Stainless Filler Rod Video
High-Speed Pulse TIG Video
Gas Lenses for TIG Torches Video
Welding Magnesium Video
Welding with Copper Alloys Video
Precision TIG Series 5: Design, Construction
Precision TIG Series 4: Rated Output
Precision TIG Series 3: Design Innovations
Precision TIG Series 2: Value Added
Precision TIG Series 1: Arc Performance
Micro Start TIG Technology
Improve HYP Production
Welding on High Yield Pipe
Laser Hot Wire Cladding
Selecting An Integrator For Robotic Welding Systems
Design Strategies for Mobile Robotic Cells
Hybrid Laser GMAW
Hybrid Laser Arc Welding
Fixturing for Robotic Welding
Justifying Robotic Welding System Cost
Robotics and Automation
Robotics Evaluation Checklist
Automated Welding - Not Just for Big Jobs
Intelligent Robotic Arc Sensing
Robotic Welding System
Finding Code Number on Machine
Electrode Choices per FEMA 353
Understanding the AWS Certificate
FEMA 353 Welding Manual
Code Requirements
AWS Classifications
Pipe Welding with STT Process
Pulsed MIG Welding


text:
Semantic Perception and Mapping for Knowledge-enabled Service Robotics (with interactive session and demonstrations)
ICRA 2012, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA (Room #9, River Centre)
May 18th, 2012
Final Schedule
9.00 - 9.30: Andrzej Pronobis, KTH, Stockholm - Introduction [ slides ]
9.30 - 10.00: Moritz Tenorth, TUM, Munich - Knowledge-enabled mapping [ slides ]
10.00 - 10.30: Dieter Fox, UW, Seatle - Grounding Natural Language [slides]
10.30 - 11.00: Coffee
11.00 - 11.30: Martial Hebert, CMU, Pittsburgh - Discovering Object Instances from Scenes of Daily Living
11.30 - 12.30: Posters and Demos session ( Full List with PDFs) [ Proceedings ]
12.30 - 14.00: Lunch
14:00 - 14.30: Richard Newcombe, Imperial College, London - Dense 3D models [slides]
14.30 - 15.00: Markus Vincze, TU Vienna, Object Classification in Domestic Environments [slides]
15.00 - 16.00: Discussion, Wrap-up, Post-discussion in the pub
====== Important Dates ======
* Submission of Posters and Demos Due: 15 April 2012
* Notification of Acceptance: 27 April 2012
* Final Submissions Due: 13 May 2012
* Workshop at ICRA 2012: 18 May 2012
====== Motivation and objectives ======
Consider a robot that is to act as a household assistant in an unknown kitchen environment. This robot has to acquire and use knowledge about where the task-relevant objects, such as the dishwasher and the oven are and how the robot can act on them. A recent advent of smart devices (e.g. smart phones) and high-quality-low-cost sensors (e.g. Kinect, Asus) provides us with the affordable resources for the robot which link sensory information to the robot's knowledge base and high-level deliberative components. Resources like this allow the general-purpose service robots to e.g. query information from world wide web, seek help from remote experts through shared autonomy interfaces and to act independently and safely in human living environments.
In this hands-on workshop we will identify key problems and solutions by narrowing down the definition of semantics, we will discuss what is the representative end world model as a result of semantic mapping, single out the optimal sensors, consider static vs. dynamic aspects of environment modeling and finally address the life-long learning in order to leverage not only the sensor data but also from human living patterns and behaviors. The workshop will feature excellent talks from researchers from academia as well as industry, live demonstrations, poster session and a working session with an aim to standardize some fundamental concepts in semantic mapping.
More specifically, we will focus on the topics related to the following:
* Over the lifetime of its operation, how should a robot's semantic mapping system build and maintain its knowledge about its surroundings?
* What are the current obstacles to bring semantic mapping capabilities to a mass-market robot?
* Which semantic mapping capabilities a robot shipped into homes today would require?
* Should we have one general system to handle many robotic tasks or should robotic systems be made for specific tasks?
====== Submissions ======
We solicit one-page A4 paper abstract submissions (formatted according to the IEEE ICRA style) for the two types of presentations: posters and live demonstrations, optionally accompanied by a video. Both will be reviewed (not double-blind) by the program committee. We would especially like to encourage live demos either during the poster session or in a special demo session and plan to foster the discussion between the participants in a plenary discussion. We plan to secure one PR2 robot to be available during the demo session. Accepted papers and videos will be archived at the Internet Archive. The authors of the best submissions will be encouraged to extend their work to the special issue of the Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation titled Visual Understanding and Applications with RGB-D Cameras.
This is the second of two workshops at ICRA 2012 dealing with semantic perception. The earlier workshop will focus on lower-level perception, with an emphasis on RGBD sensors and 3D data, while this one will deal with higher-level perception and knowledge representation.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
* Probabilistic environment modeling and representation (e.g. ontologies)
* Exploration strategies for semantic mapping and knowledge acquisition
* Strategies for active visual object search
* Semantics for long-term operation in dynamic environments
* Perceptual grounding for robots
* Classification and understanding of scenes
* Human activity recognition
* Perceived affordances of objects of daily use
* Usage of semantic maps and users' perspective
Submission process is closed.
====== Program Committee ======
Kurt Konolige, Kei Okada, Federico Tombari, Wolfram Burgard, Moritz Tenorth, Dov Katz, Alvaro Collett, Mike Krainin, Markus Vincze, Jeanette Bohg, Nico Blodow, Jürgen Sturm, Kevin Lai, Zoltan-Csaba Marton
====== Organizers ======
* Michael Beetz, TUM, Munich
* Patric Jensfelt, KTH, Stockholm
* Alper Aydemir, KTH, Stockholm
* Dejan Pangercic, TUM, Munich
* Ben Pitzer, Bosch RTC, Palo Alto
* Bhaskara Marthi, Willow Garage, Menlo Park


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It seems to me that a lot of folks in the previous discussion don't really understand quite what makes Amazon so interesting—and threatening, for that matter—to the publishing industry.
So I'm going to take a stab at explaining.
Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. And today it's the world's largest online retailer.
I submit that, as with all other large corporations, you cannot judge Amazon by the public statements of its executives; they are at best uttered with an eye for strategic propaganda effects, and at worst they're deeply self-serving and deceptive. Rather, you need to examine their underlying ideology and then the steps they take—and the actions they consider legitimate—in order to achieve their goals.
Now, first, I'd like to introduce three keywords that need defining before you can understand Amazon:
is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate (such as a distributor, wholesaler, broker, or agent), companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet. One important factor is a drop in the cost of servicing customers directly.Disintermediation initiated by consumers is often the result of high market transparency, in that buyers are aware of supply prices direct from the manufacturer. Buyers bypass the middlemen (wholesalers and retailers) in order to buy directly from the manufacturer and thereby pay less. Buyers can alternatively elect to purchase from wholesalers.
It should be fairly obvious by now that the internet is an intrinsically disruptive force in traditional distribution channels because it makes disintermediation very easy.
Jeff Bezos recognized this very early on, and designed Amazon to be a disruptive disintermediary: to buy wholesale and sell retail, using the internet as a tool to reach remote customers directly. Initially Amazon relied on large warehouses, but as its database expanded they moved to just-in-time ordering, whereby obscure items would be listed as available but only ordered from the supplier when a customer requested one.
(So far, so good.)
But there are two other key aspects of Amazon that we need to understand.
Firstly, it's not an accident that Bezos' start-up targeted the book trade. Bookselling in 1994 was a notoriously backward-looking, inefficient, and old-fashioned area of the retail sector. There are structural reasons for this. A bookshop that relies on walk-in customers needs to have a wide range of items in stock because books are not fungible; a copy of the King James Version Bible is not an acceptable substitute for "REAMDE" by Neal Stephenson or "Inside the Puzzle Palace: A History of the NSA" by James Bamford. But books are bulky—a metre wide galley with books stacked spine-out can hold maybe 200 books on its shelves. It takes a lot of floor space to hold one copy of everything a reader might want to buy. Even a big box store may only have room to stock 20-50,000 different titles. In contrast, Amazon's database can hold millions of titles without Amazon having to hold them as physical stock.
Moreover, a big bookstore that stocks 20,000 trade books has to either sell them or return them undamaged for credit within 90 or 120 days. Someone is paying for that credit: either the wholesaler who bought them from the publisher, or the publisher themselves. (Or the bookstore may take a gamble and pay for the books, then keep them on the shelves until they sell—but this doesn't generally happen because bookstore owners aren't suicidal.) And the availability of that credit is limited by the retailer's plausible ability to pay. Amazon doesn't need to run on rolling credit. They can list everything in print as if it's available, and order it only when they have a confirmed sale. Neat, huh?
As noted, Bezos targeted bookselling because it was ripe for disintermediation. By purchasing from the publisher directly when a customer had already bought a copy, his company could keep its overheads down—and in particular, minimize its warehouse space (never mind the cost of running premium retail outlets and paying shop sales staff). This allowed him to buy wholesale and sell retail, at a big discount compared to the regular retail trade (with their higher overheads).
So. What's wrong with this?
Well, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this way of doing business—if that's all that was going on. But it isn't. So now we come to our two new words:
exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity ... Monopolies are thus characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce the good or service and a lack of viable substitute goods.
Monopolies suck for their customers because they don't have to give a shit about product quality or price: they have you, the customer, over a barrel with nowhere else to go.
A monopoly is a consumer-side problem. In contrast, there is a less-well-known corresponding supplier-side problem ...
is a market form in which only one buyer faces many sellers. It is an example of imperfect competition, similar to a monopoly, in which only one seller faces many buyers. As the only or majority purchaser of a good or service, the "monopsonist" may dictate terms to its suppliers in the same manner that a monopolist controls the market for its buyers.
Monopsonies suck for their suppliers because the suppliers are systematically starved of profits by the middle-men running the monopsony. Which can lead to suppliers going bust, and a reduction in the diversity and quality of goods available (via the monopsony) to consumers.
(It's kind of like inflation and deflation in economics. Inflation is bad; deflation, its opposite, is not good, it's simply differently bad. Similarly, both monopolies and monopsonies are bad.)
And the peculiar evil genius of Amazon is that Amazon seems to be trying to simultaneously establish a wholesale monopsony and a retail monopoly in the ebook sector.
You're probably familiar with predatory pricing. A big box retailer moves into a small town with a variety of local grocery and supermarket stores. They stock a huge range of products and hold constant promotions, often dumping goods at or below their wholesale price. This draws customers away from the local incumbents, who can't compete and who go bust. Of course the big box retailer can't keep up the dumping forever, but if losing a few million dollars is the price of driving all the local competitors out of business, then they will have many years of profits drawn from a captive market to recoup the investment. (Meanwhile, helpful laws allow them to write down the losses on this store as a loss against tax, but that's just the icing on the cake.) Once the big box store has killed off every competiting mom'n'pop store within a 50-mile radius, where else are people going to shop?
Amazon has the potential to be like that predatory big box retailer on a global scale. And it's well on the way to doing so in the ebook sector.
Until 2008, the ebook side of publishing was a vestigial, if not irrelevant, irritation from the point of view of the major publishers—at less than 1% of their turnover it was lost in the line noise. However, as subsidiaries of large media conglomerates, the executives who ran the big six had all been given their marching orders about the internet: DRM restrictions would be mandatory on all ebook sales, lest rampant piracy cannibalize their sales of paper books.
(This fear is of course an idiotic shibboleth—we've had studies since 2000 proving that Napster users back in the bad old days spent more money on CDs than their non-pirate peers. The real driver for piracy is the lack of convenient access to desirable content at a competitive price. But if your boss is a 70 year old billionaire who also owns a movie studio and listens to the MPAA, you don't get a vote. Speaking out against DRM was, as more than one editor told me over the past decade, potentially a career-limiting move.)
But publishers aren't software companies. They just want to sell books. And so they outsourced the DRM to the ebook resellers. Including Amazon.
Amazon has a history of investing hundreds of millions of dollars in loss-leading products and ventures solely to build market share. For AMZN, the big six insistence on DRM on ebooks was a windfall: it made the huge investment in the Kindle platform worthwhile, and by 2010 Amazon had come close to an 85% market share in the ebook sector (which was growing at a dizzying compound rate of 100-200% per annum, albeit from a small base). And now we get to 2012, and ebooks are likely to hit 40% of total publishing sales by the end of this year, and are on the way to 60% within five years (per Tim Hely Hutchinson, CEO of Hachette UK). In five years, we've gone from <1% to >40%. That's disruption for you!
Now, most ebook customers are not tech-savvy. It is possible to unlock the DRM on a Kindle ebook and transcode it to epub format for use on other readers; but it's non-trivial. (Not to mention being a breach of the Kindle terms and conditions of use. Because you don't own an ebook; in their short-sighted eagerness to close loopholes the publishers tried to make ebooks more like software, where you merely buy a limited license to use the product, rather than actual ownership of an object.) So, because Amazon had shoved a subsidized Kindle reader or a free Kindle iPhone app into their hands, and they'd bought a handful of books using it, the majority of customers found themselves locked in to the platform they'd started out on. Want to move to another platform? That's hard; you lose all the books you've already bought, because you can't take them with you.
By foolishly insisting on DRM, and then selling to Amazon on a wholesale basis, the publishers handed Amazon a monopoly on their customers—and thereby empowered a predatory monopsony.
I'm not going to comment on the Agency model which has drawn down the current US Department of Justice enquiry into Apple and the big six publishers. Let's just frame it as a desperate attempt by the publishers to get away from the wholesale model, which was allowing the monopsony incumbent (Amazon) to extort ridiculous discounts from their suppliers. If anything, the agency model simply means selling books the same way they were sold 30 years ago, and the way apps are sold in the iTunes app store or the Android Marketplace. It was unwise to give the appearance of collusion to establish a price-fixing cartel, but whether or not such collusion actually happens is a matter to be decided by a judge in the not too distant future.
I'm not going to lecture you about Jeff Bezos either, although I do want to note that he came out of a hedge fund and he's ostensibly a libertarian; these aspects of his background make me uneasy, because in my experience they tend to be found in conjunction with a social-darwinist ideology that has no time for social justice, compassion, or charity. (When you hear a libertarian talking about "disruption" and "innovation" what they usually mean is "opportunities to make a quick buck, however damaging the long-term side effects may be". Watch for the self-serving cant and the shout-outs to abstractions framed in terms of market ideology.)
Anyway, here's the important take-away:
DRM on ebooks is dead. (Or if not dead, it's on death row awaiting a date with the executioner.)
It doesn't matter whether Macmillan wins the price-fixing lawsuit bought by the Department of Justice. The point is, the big six publishers' Plan B for fighting the emerging Amazon monopsony has failed (insofar as it has been painted as a price-fixing ring, whether or not it was one in fact). This means that they need a Plan C. And the only viable Plan C, for breaking Amazon's death-grip on the consumers, is to break DRM.
If the major publishers switch to selling ebooks without DRM, then they can enable customers to buy books from a variety of outlets and move away from the walled garden of the Kindle store. They see DRM as a defense against piracy, but piracy is a much less immediate threat than a gigantic multinational with revenue of $48 Billion in 2011 (more than the entire global publishing industry) that has expressed its intention to "disrupt" them, and whose chief executive said recently "even well-meaning gatekeepers slow innovation" (where "innovation" is code-speak for "opportunities for me to turn a profit").
And so they will deep-six their existing commitment to DRM and use the terms of the DoJ-imposed settlement to wiggle out of the most-favoured-nation terms imposed by Amazon, in order to sell their wares as widely as possible.
If they don't, they're doomed. And all of us who like to read (or write) fiction get to live in the Amazon company town.


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Scotland's Story Chapter LV. James II. Of the Fiery Face - The Story of the Black Dinner
JAMES I. was killed in 1437 A.D., and his son, who was also called James, was then only six years old. He was, however, crowned at once, for although some of the nobles had hated James I., he had been loved by most of the people, and they willingly accepted his little son as their King.
Sir Robert Graham had thought and hoped that the people would bless him, and love him for having rid them of a cruel tyrant. He soon found out his mistake. The people cursed him for his deed. Filled with terrible rage and hatred, they hunted him and those who had helped him, till in little more than a month, every man of them was taken prisoner. They were all put to death in most horrible and cruel ways. However bad their crime had been, we cannot help shuddering at the terrible punishments which fell upon the murderers. And Graham, instead of being remembered with love, was remembered with hate.
'Robert Graham, That slew our King, God give him shame,'
sang the common people.
As James II. was such a little boy, of course he could not himself rule. So several of the great nobles were chosen to rule instead.
These powerful men were jealous of each other, and quarrelled, each trying to be greater than the other, and each trying to get possession of the King.
The greatest of all the lords was Earl Douglas. Ever since the days of the good Lord James, the Douglas family had been growing more and more powerful. Now they were the greatest and proudest nobles in the land, and they kept state like princes. Indeed, their houses were far more splendid, and their servants far more numerous than the King's. Within their own lands, which were large and wide, they did as they liked. When the Earl Douglas rode abroad, he was attended by a thousand knights and soldiers. He held a Parliament, made knights, and waged war, as if he were a king. What he desired he took. No man was strong enough to stand against him, and all the wild young men of the land, seeking for adventure, flocked to join the Douglas soldiery.
This powerful earl was now made Governor of the kingdom. He died, however, in about a year, and was succeeded in his earldom by his son William. William was only seventeen, but he was ever more proud and grand than his father had been.
At first the Queen-mother, as Queen Jane was now called, lived with her little son the King in Edinburgh castle. But soon she began to be afraid of Sir William Crichton, who was Chancellor of the kingdom and Governor of the castle, and she feared that he meant to do some evil to the King. So she pretended that she wanted to go on a pilgrimage, and, hiding .James in one of her boxes, she ran away with him to Stirling castle.
The Governor of Stirling, who was Sir William Crichton's rival, was greatly pleased to see the Queen and her little son, for now, having possession of the King, he was the more powerful.
For about two years the Queen-mother and her son lived in Stirling, and after the death of Archibald, Earl of Douglas, Sir Alexander Livingstone, the Governor of Stirling, was made Governor of the kingdom. And he, having the King in his power, ruled as he liked, taking counsel of neither lord nor baron. This made Sir William Crichton very angry, and he longed to get possession of the King once more. So one dark night, with about a hundred armed men he took his way to Stirling, and there near the castle-walls he lay in hiding, hoping to capture the King when he came out to ride in the morning.
As Sir William had expected, the King came out very early in the morning, accompanied only by a few horsemen. James rode gaily along, and before he knew what was happening, He found himself surrounded by armed men. Very humbly and reverently they all bowed before the King, who was greatly astonished at their sudden appearance.
Then Sir William came forward and spoke to James in a gentle, loving manner. 'I pray your Majesty,' he said, pointing to the gates of Stirling, 'let me deliver you out of that prison. The Governor wickedly keeps you there to the hurt of your kingdom. Come with me to Edinburgh, or to any part of Scotland that you please, and 1 will keep you safe from all dangers, and from the power of those who would do you hurt. For it becomes a Prince to live freely, governing others, and not subject to any vassal's rule or correction. I speak for those who wish you well.'
As Sir William spoke the King began to smile. He knew that in Stirling castle he could not do as he liked. Both his mother and the Governor often said to him, 'You must do this,' or 'You must do that,' and he thought how nice it would be to do just as he liked. So he smiled. And seeing him smile, Sir William knew that he had got what he wanted. He knew that the King was willing to go with him. Laying hold of his bridle, he turned his horse's head towards Edinburgh. Then some of the King's servants and followers, who had come out to ride with him, came forward and tried to persuade him not to go with Sir William.
But the Governor's eldest son, who was also with them, bade them be silent. 'It is vain,' he said, 'for us to strive with so many armed men. The more so as they mean no harm to the King. It is better to suffer this defeat than to attempt what is beyond our power.' So the King was led away towards Edinburgh, and his servants turned back to Stirling with the news.
The Governor was not at Stirling at this time, but as soon as he heard of what had happened, he mounted upon his horse and came galloping back as fast as he could. He was angry with himself for not having kept the King more safely. He was angry with his friends, because he felt sure that some of them must have been in league with Sir William, and helped him to capture the King. But this he was determined upon, that having been powerful he meant to continue being powerful. Yet he felt now that he was not strong enough to stand alone, and lie was undecided what to do. 'Shall I join with the Douglas against Sir William,' he asked himself, 'or shall I make friends with Sir William and help him to put down the Douglas?'
In the end he made up his mind to make friends with Sir William. So they had a meeting at Edinburgh and pretended to forgive all the evil they had done to one another.
Soon after this a Parliament was called at Edinburgh. There, many complaints were sent from all sides of how the whole land was filled with murder and war, and how there was no peace nor rest for any man.
That the pride and lawlessness of the Douglas were to blame for much of this, was certain. Crichton and Livingstone therefore made up their minds to rid the country of him.
He was so great and powerful that they dared not take him by force. So they wrote a kind letter to him. In this letter they told him in many fair words that his help was needed to rule the country, and they begged him to come to Edinburgh to see the King.
The Earl was pleased with this letter, and suspecting no treachery, rode to Edinburgh with his young brother David and a great company of followers. As they neared the city some of his knights began to suspect that all was not fair and honest. So they begged the Earl to turn back. But although the Earl was proud and haughty, he was chivalrous and noble. 'Do not speak to me of treachery,' he said. 'The Chancellor has treated me kindly. J will hear no evil of him.'
So they rode on, but the knights grew ever more and more uneasy, and at last even David begged his brother to turn back.
Then the young Earl was angry. He spoke sharply to his brother, telling him that no great noble should pay heed to tale-bearing, and he commanded that no man in his company should again speak such words.
Then setting spurs to his horse the Earl galloped faster than before towards Edinburgh, followed sadly by his knights, who dared speak no more words of warning.
The Earl and his brother were received with great joy. For a few days there was feasting and merrymaking. The King was delighted with his new companions. He was about tell old how, and he was very tired of having only grave, stern men about him. The Earl was young, and handsome, and gay, and lie had such splendid stories of adventure to tell that the King grew to love him.
But while the Douglas feasted and played with the King, his enemies were making ready.
One day the Governor managed to send most of the Earl's soldiers out of Edinburgh. That night there was a great feast. All the most delightful dishes that could be thought of were prepared for the two young nobles. But when the dinner was over, when the last dish had been carried away, a great black bull's head was brought in upon a silver dish and placed before the Earl. The black bull's head was the sign of death.
Too late the Earl remembered the warning of his friends. Too late he saw that the Governor and the Chancellor meant him evil, lie and his brother started up from the table and drew their swords. But armed men rushed in from every side. There was no escape. They were soon fast bound hand and foot.
Meanwhile the King wept and clung to them. He fell upon his knees before the Chancellor, and with tears and sobs begged him to save his new friends. But the Chancellor answered sternly, 'Earl Douglas is your enemy. He is a traitor to his country. So long as lie has life, the land can have neither rest nor peace. He must die.'
So the two boys were hurried away to the courtyard of the castle, and there their heads were cut off.
This was afterwards called the Black Dinner. It was Indeed a black dinner for the Douglases.
'Edinburgh castle, town and tower, God grant you sink for sin;And that even for the black dinner Earl Douglas got therein.
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Patriotic Nails – 9 Memorial Day Nail Art Ideas
Memorial Day Weekend is the official kick-off to summer in the US and it looks like we're going to have beautiful weather here in the CLE. Apparently, my street will be in our city's parade so you know I need a manicure for the event.
If you enjoy a themed mani as much as I do, then you'll love these Nine Patriotic Nail Art Ideas to get you in the spirit to honor the service men and women who gave their lives to ensure our freedom. Let's get our Red, White & Blue on!
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Makeup Wars – Beauty Diary: A Day In The Life of a Beauty Blogger
When you want to lose weight, nutritionists suggest starting a food diary to track everything that goes in your mouth each day. It's usually quite surprising when you think of every taste, snack and sip outside of your main meals.
As fellow beauty lovers, have you ever thought of tracking all the potions, lotions, and products you use in one day, from morning til night? That's the task for this week's Makeup Wars and well, as if I didn't already feel like a product junkie, this made it even more apparent. See everything it takes to get me through just one typical day.
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Travel Beauty Essentials – Makeup, Hair and Body Products for Your Next Trip
When it comes to travel, I'm not what you would call a "light packer." In fact, I bring a travel scale to make sure my bag doesn't go over the weight limit when flying. I just figure, if the airline allows you 50 pounds, may as well be prepared.
However, when it comes to packing my beauty products, I pretty much have that process streamlined. I always have my travel beauty kit, with the exception of my makeup bag, stowed in my carry-on, ready for the next getaway.
As you may recall, I went on a cruise in January so today, as I open up my kit to share my Travel Beauty Essentials, I'm using pics from the ship and our stops in Cozumel, Honduras and Belize as the backdrop.
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Top 10 Radiant Orchid Beauty Products for Spring 2014
Every year when Pantone announces the Color of the Year, I get excited to see all the new beauty products and accessories start rolling out. Obviously, this green lover hit the mother lode when Emerald was selected last year.
For 2014, the color is Radiant Orchid, a warm, pink-y purple. Even though we're barely into 2014, there are a number of great makeup options to help you adopt the trend. Now, warm purples aren't usually my jam so I loved the challenge of finding ten wearable items, in the it color of 2014, for the latest edition of Top Ten Tuesday.
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If there's one big color trend from The Oscars 2014, it would be a lack of color, as nudes ruled the day. From barely there lips and tips to flesh-toned gowns, this is one Oscar year when the red carpet didn't have a lot to compete with. Of course, there were a few standout moments but they were few and far between.
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Organizing and Reorganizing Markets brings organization theory to the study of markets. The difference between markets and organizations is often exaggerated. Organizing exists in addition to other processes and phenomena that form markets: the mutual adaption among sellers and buyers as described in mainstream economics, and the institutions described in institutional economics and economic sociology. Market organization can be analysed with the same type of theories used for analysing organization within formal organizations.
Through the use of many empirical examples, the book demonstrates how this can be done. The authors argue that the way a certain market is organized can be understood as the (intermediate) result of previous organizing processes. Questions discussed include: 'What drives market organizing and reorganizing processes? What makes various organizations intervene as market organizers? And, how are the specific contents of market organization determined?' The answers to these questions help to analyse similarities and differences among organizing processes in formal organizations and those in markets.
Arguments are illustrated by in-depth studies of many types of markets. The book will open up markets as a field of study for scholars of organization.
Learn more and order the book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/organizing-and-reorganizing-markets-9780198815761?q=Jutterstr%C3%B6m&lang=en&cc=se#
Overview of the Book "Organizing and Reorganizing markets"
In Chapter 2, Göran Ahrne, Patrik Aspers and Nils Brunsson describe the concept of organization and how it applies to markets both within and outside formal organizations. They describe why and how organization matters—how an organized order differs from orders produced by mutual adjustment or institutions. They argue that organization is likely to have a significant effect on the dynamics of markets. Many of the concepts presented in this chapter are used in the analyses throughout the book.
In Chapter 3, 'Creating a Market Bureaucracy: The Case of a Railway Market', Daniel Castillo illustrates the complexity of market organization through the organizing of a market for railway traffic in Sweden. It was a process that took almost two decades and involved the creation of a large number of sellers and several side markets. All in all, it resulted in a 'market bureaucracy'
involving more organization than the former state monopoly. The sharp distinction often made between markets and organizations typically refers to simple ideal types.
In Chapter 4, 'Primary Healthcare: What Type of Market and What Type of Organization?', Anders Forssell and Lars Norén show that the distinction may be more difficult to uphold when analysing practical situations. They use established theory from the field of marketing to analyse a case of outsourcing that can be seen as the creation of both a new market and a new organization.
In Chapter 5, 'Experience-Based Learning andMarket Change', Mats Jutterström illustrates how the content of market organization may change significantly over time and discusses why such change occurs. He argues that the shifts from relatively little to much organization, eventually adopting more
unorthodox forms in relation to the hegemonic 'perfect' market ideal, is an effect of levels of experience-based learning. The chapter is based on the study of a market for snow clearance.
When sellers try to launch a product that they define as new, they face the task of creating and organizing a new market. In Chapter 6, 'When Sellers Create Markets: Dilemmas in Markets for Professional Services', Nils Brunsson and Anna Tyllström analyse a number of dilemmas and challenges that sellers of professional services face, using markets for public relations and coaching services as illustrations.
Markets are intertwined. If a certain market is organized in a way that is inappropriate for adjacent markets, sellers or buyers in these markets may intervene. In Chapter 7, '"The Most Regulated Deregulated Market in the World"?: Sellers Organizing across Markets', Susanna Alexius describes how the taxi market in large Swedish cities has been organized by sellers in other markets, and how they have been able to enforce strong rules, monitoring, and sanctions directed at sellers of taxi services.
In Chapter 8, 'Markets as Open Systems: Organizing and Reorganizing a Financial Market', Mats Jutterström analyses contextual drivers of market reorganization. The chapter highlights three generic drivers of reorganization that made the lives of the organizers both unpredictable and difficult: intrusive side markets, general market ideas diverging from practice, and new ideas of appropriate market characteristics. Moreover, the question of market reform frequency is addressed; the study illustrates how it may be propelled by contextual dynamics and unrealistic ideas still hoped for.
In Chapter 9, 'Markets, Trust, and the Construction of Macro-Organizations', Nils Brunsson, Ingrid Gustafsson, and Kristina Tamm Hallström use an empirical case to describe how the problemof trust in markets has led to the creation of a 'macro-organization', an extremely complex system of interrelated new markets and new interrelated organizations organizing these markets and each
other. The attempts to create trust by organization produced distrust that stimulated further organization. The complexity of the system makes it highly questionable whether it can fulfil its purpose.
There is a long tradition of trying to influence markets via consumers, who have been the targets of education and information campaigns bymany types of organizations. In Chapter 10, 'Shaping the Consumer: A Century of Consumer Guidance', Susanna Alexius and Leina Löwenberg illustrate how various goals and methods have been used in various periods—from attempts to reduce 'unnecessary' consumption at the end of the 19th century to the publishing of guides about guides: which guides to use when making purchase decisions.
In Chapter 11, 'When Market Organization Does Not Help: High Ambitions and Challenges in the Market for Eldercare', Eva Hagbjer and Anna Krohwinkel discuss the limits for market organization. They draw from empirical cases of attempts to organize markets in a way that would make it possible for elderly people to make informed choices about care providers. Although this possibility
was seen as a prerequisite for the market to function as planned, it turned out to be very difficult to achieve.
In many markets, sellers want to know as much as possible about buyers, whereas buyers are far less inclined to share that information with sellers—not least for privacy reasons.
In Chapter 12, 'Dealingwith Asymmetric Information: Organizing and Reorganizing a Market for Child Insurance', Martin Gustavsson deals with the dilemma of buyer privacy versus seller information, and
describes how market organization was used and changed in the processes of conflicting interests.
International government organizations play a key role in the organization of markets in many countries. In Chapter 13, 'Reform and Rescue: International Organizations and the Organization of Markets', Matilda Dahl describes how the Baltic states were the object of much intervention by
international organizations, both when they moved from socialism to capitalism and when the 2008 financial crisis struck them. International organizations not only offered advice, but also used membership in their organizations as a promise, and the lack of membership as a threat.
In Chapter 14, 'Organizing Marketplaces: The Constitution of Trade Shows in a Cutting-Edge Industry', Patrik Aspers and Asaf Darr turn to the problem of potential buyers not knowing that a market exists. The solution they describe is a seller-organized travelling marketplace for computer software in the USA, nicknamed the 'Travelling Circus'. Outcomes of this organization other than the intended ones surfaced, however, including seller collaboration and industrial espionage.
In Chapter 15, 'Handling Opposing Market Logics: Public Procurement in Practice', Staffan Furusten describes the subtle ways in which buyers can avoid complying with market organization, using the case of the public procurement of management consulting services. Buyers and sellers generally
favoured a market logic in conflict with the one inherent in the public procurement rules, and various forms of avoidance constituted a common way of dealing with the clash.
In Chapter 16, 'From a Free to a Pure Market: The History of Organizing the Swedish Pipe and Tube Market', Kristoffer Strandqvist provides an historical analysis of the changing organization of a market. He describes how the market around 1900 was organized by sellers forming cartels as a way of avoiding the chaos of a 'free' market. Over time, representatives of the state looked upon these cartels with more and more suspicion and wanted to intervene with their own ideas about proper market organization. But the sellers and their cartels did not give in easily.
In Chapter 17, 'Multiplicity, Complexity, and Recurrent Change', we use the studies presented in this book to characterize the various organizations involved in market organization and report on the elements and amount of organization used. We describe how organization was sometimes supported with information or artefacts. Moreover, the processes of market organization are analysed, highlighting both the causes and effects of organization. We describe how the content of market organization often changed significantly and discuss the reasons.
Finally, in Chapter 18, 'Organizing and Reorganizing Markets and Formal Organizations: A Comparison', we return to the question of similarities and differences in the organization of markets and the organization of formal organizations. We argue that the similarities are great enough to usefully apply the same concepts for analysing the organizational aspects of both forms. Yet systematic research on the differences is promising for the development of a more general theory of organization than that based merely on the study of formal organizations.


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All good things must end. Or so says the phrase I've heard countless number of times throughout my life. Last night the Dodgers winning streak was stopped at 11, and what a great 11 games they where. Everyone contributed in their own way. No one was left out. Suddenly, like a tornado falling from the sky, we are back in the race for the National League West. Nothing to be sad about here. Last night loss only means that we can start a new winning streak today. Going for Number 1!


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"The design goal for the cabin was to create something truly unique in the middle of the forest," said Hörning, explaining that the structure sits on his own property, which is in the Rhône-Alps region of France. "My younger brother, Tobias Hörning, who served as the architect on the project, and I wanted to design a small simple structure that was half square and half a circle combined. We thought the contrast between the two would be an interesting concept. We found it amusing that the structure takes on the form of a slice of cake.
"It also needed to have the aura of a peaceful place where one retreats to — almost like a church or meditation room," the stonemason went on to say. "For example, the niche on the interior north wall consists of a stone from a monastery ruin. The glass stones, which are transparent on the outside and ruby on the inside, represent a 'plus' symbol of positivity."
Moreover, the design objective entailed making the stone cabin appear as if it was sprouting from the earth. "We wanted the structure to be something that camouflages into the environment," explained Hörning. "Therefore, the choice of location was also important to the design, as it now rests on a knoll leading to the forest."
Sourcing local stone
Hörning's stone cabin is comprised of 90% La Pierre Calcaire limestone — supplied by Roffat (SAS) of Puygiron, France — and 10% Pierre du Gres sandstone, which was found on the property near natural sandpits and also in the forest. "Puygiron is a town located approximately 30 minutes from Bourdeaux, where there is a stone quarry that extracts these white stones that are almost ivory in color," said the stonemason. "These stones can also give off an intense gray-blue hue.
"The reason I chose La Pierre Calcaire limestone is that not only is it beautiful in color, but that it gives off a regal appearance," Hörning continued. "It is easy to shape overall, as the stone is of a medium hardness. It gives you control in the shaping process without completely breaking the stone — resulting in the sharpest edges possible. What I also particularly admire about la Pierre Calcaire is that fossils and crystallized formations are common."
The stonemason explained that he started off with approximately 65,000 pounds of stone, when selecting the blocks at the quarry. "After cutting and factoring loss from parts of the stone blocks that were not useable or acceptable, I ended up with approximately 33,000 pounds," he said.
The overall diameter of the stone cabin spans 18 feet, and the wall is 20 inches wide. On average, the stone pieces have a size of 35 square inches a piece.
Building the structure
According to Hörning, mock-ups prior to construction were not necessary. "I used basic architectural plans," he said. "Just like my other projects, I follow a philosophy of spontaneous development — let the ideas appear as the project progresses.
"When it comes to a specific method to stone installation, my philosophy is simple: integrate organic shapes, and place them in a geometrical order," Hörning went on to explain. "I emphasize natural stone patterns and minimize joints — using them solely to highlight the design."
Larger stones were used as a guide for placing the smaller ones, according to the stonemason. "One of the main objectives was to avoid square shapes and highlight the organic shaping that the stones naturally have, then press the stone down into the lime mortar and back into the wall in order not to make it visible, like in dry walling," he said.
Among the most challenging parts of the installation was constructing the interior portion of the cabin where it becomes rounded, as it concaves inward. "As a mason, I'm accustomed to installing stone on the exterior of a structure," said Hörning. "In this case, it was particularly difficult because I had to install on both the interior and exterior knowing I only had a width of 20 inches to work with. Another perplexing part was integrating the glass stones without interrupting the configuration of natural stones."
In total, construction of the stone cabin was completed in about three weeks, according to the stonemason. "I consider the installation a four-step process," he explained. "First, choosing the stone blocks at the quarry took about five hours. Secondly, I split the stones with a hydraulic stone splitter in order to obtain a straight/flat surface, which took approximately 35 hours of work. Thirdly, manually cutting the stones and selecting which were worthy for the project took about 80 hours. When it came to the physical installation, it was about a three-week process.
"The reaction to the project has been overwhelmingly positive, which is very gratifying," Hörning went on to say. "Some of my colleagues thought of it just as a simple yet unique edifice, while others thought of it as a combination of sculpture and architecture. What I thought was particularly interesting was that while some were intrigued with the design aspect, it caused others to just simply think outside the box, which in retrospect was one of my goals for this project."


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• Light-Up Indicator with Ringer Alert (Handset) • Illuminated Display (Handset) • 50-Name & Number Phonebook
FHSS technology provides clear sound over longer ranges, as well as digital security to prevent eavesdropping.
You can answer the phone without interrupting what you're doing - whether you&re cooking, cleaning, or surfing the Internet.
The indicator on the handset lights up in amber when there is an incoming call for visual confirmation.
Since AAA-type rechargeable batteries are used, you can replace them with two commercially available AAA batteries for added convenience. (Rechargeable Battery: HHR-4MRT)
Whenever you get a call or touch a key, the LCD&s backlight lights up, so even in the dark you&ll be able to see who&s calling and easily operate the phone.
Up to 50 station names and numbers can be stored in the built-in phonebook for fast, easy recall.
The handset LCD displays the caller's name and number, so you can see who&s calling before you actually answer the phone.
• Night Mode • Ringer ID*1*2 • Up to 3-Way Conference Call with 1 Outside Line (Handset - Handset - Line) • Call Share (Barge in) • Intercom (Handset - Handset) • 7 Ringer Patterns (3 tones, 4 melodies) • 5 Redial Memory • Any Key Answer • Clock / Alarm • Handset Locator (Base Unit) • 11-Day Standby Time • 5-Hour Talk Time • 7-Hour Charge Time • Wall Mountable (Base Unit)
Notes *1 Requires registration in Phonebook function. *2 Requires subscription to a Caller ID service. Please check with local telephone company for details and availability.


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Classes & Programs
Learn, play, relax, socialize and stay fit at Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) parks and facilities. Attend classes, or go to an exhibit or performance. You can use the parks, trails and recreation facilities at your leisure, alongside people of all ages or with other seniors 60 & better. Some of the services and programs offered include:
The arts
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Free Fitness Membership
Did you know seniors aged 60 & better who are residents of Prince George's or Montgomery Counties can exercise at any Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC)
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fitness room for free with an M-NCPPC Community Center/Fitness Identification Card? Just bring verification of residency and age to the center to obtain your free senior membership card. Fitness room amenities vary by site and allow you to exercise at times and locations convenient for you.
Senior Days
Senior Days at the
Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex
offer free use of the facility's pool, fitness
and indoor walking track on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. Make a pledge to stay healthy and active and take advantage of this free workout opportunity!
Reduced rates are available for seniors 60 & better at
Enterprise Golf Course
, Paint Branch Golf Course, and
Henson Creek Golf Course
. Many aquatic, exercise and fitness classes are also available throughout the county. Please refer to the "Your Guide to Parks and Recreation" quarterly publication for a list of classes, or browse class listings in
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Arts opportunities abound in Prince George's County. Check out the many offerings at community centers,
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22 March 2013 - World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a way to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater, and in 2013, it is dedicated to the theme of cooperation around water. While water is not one of the core UNODC topics, the Office has highlighted the detrimental effects of corruption on freshwater management.
Corruption in the water sector is a major concern in many ways. Whether we talk about water for energy, for drinking purposes or for sanitation, water as a commodity is a basic human need. Sadly, it is also one that millions of people struggle daily to meet. When money gets diverted for personal gain, people continue to rely on insecure and polluted water sources for hygiene, drinking and food preparation.
The water sector is particularly vulnerable to corruption for several reasons, the most prominent of which is the vast number of players in this area, including those from the various tiers of public service and the private sector. When big money is involved and there is a lack of transparency, the negotiation of contracts, allocations, agreements and licenses are affected.
Corruption can also increase the costs of building water infrastructure by as much as 40 per cent, according to the UN Development Programme. This equates to an additional $12 billion a year needed to provide worldwide safe drinking water and sanitation.
Large water infrastructure projects such as dams, canals, tunnels, wells and drains are also highly lucrative and much coveted. Hydro-electric power for example, which requires large investments and highly complex engineering works, is an area that can attract unscrupulous operators and give rise to corruption in procurement processes.
UNODC's efforts to promote the United Nations Convention against Corruption and assist countries to fully implement its provisions will foster increased resilience to corruption in the freshwater sector and beyond.
World Water Day homepage from UN-Water
Fact sheet on corruption and the environment (pdf)
Fact sheet on corruption and development (pdf)
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's message on World Water Day 2013


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contest season has arrived, and here's
a list of the small field which focuses on the memoir manuscript.
the Glimmer Train blog, Lynne
Barrett discusses (often funnily) what an editor of a literary journal
wants (and so rarely gets). Kind of makes you glad to be a submitting writer
instead. (hat tip Kendall Williams)
Cat has unearthed links to free
ebooks of five ultra long novels.
Writer's Digest University, an
excellent example of the kind of crisp, no-frills cover letter recommended
for literary journal submissions; plus, other tips for less submission stress
(via @ErikaDreifus).
has launched an interactive feature inviting its customers (or anyone,
really) to ask questions of their favorite authors. Queries can be posted either
online or from Kindle.
– pronounce these authors' names: Colm
Tobin, J.M Coetzee, Jhumpa Lahiri. Need help?
Try this
cheat sheet. (via Shelf Awareness)
– at least 200 – MFA faculty members are upset at Poets & Writers Magazine's
ranking of MFA programs, and have said so in
an open letter.
one writer asks herself 200
Questions Before Lunch.
Have a great weekend!


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Armin van Buuren's CV explains it all. He's had five Number 1 spots on the DJ Top 100, he regularly works the booth around the globe, playing to over 30,000 people, and he's also had commercial chart success.
Starting out in a studio in his parent's basement, Armin van Buuren rode the trance train to international success, reaching Number 18 in the UK charts with Communication in 2000. His schedule hasn't slowed since, with his weekly radio show A State of Trance reaching an estimated 25 million people worldwide.
He also co-founded Armada Music, whose roster of trance royalty, including Paul van Dyk, Markus Schulz, ATB and Chicane, has gained it a huge global following.All the while, his studio has progressed from a DAT-driven hardware-heavy cluttered basement to a fully in-the-box custom-treated facility.Watch the exclusive video above as Future Music goes in the studio to get the inside scoop on how he produced his track Suddenly Summer.
Like the video above? Make sure you Subscribe to Future Music's YouTube Channel for even more In The Studio videos!
Plus! You can read the full Armin van Buuren interview and interviews and videos from more artists in our special iOS app.
Head over to the App store now to grab the FM appand get your digital special edition now!
For more Armin van Buuren check his website at http://www.arminvanbuuren.com


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- Home
- Our Residents
- Going Green
- Environmental Services
- Liquid Waste Management
Liquid Waste Management
Program Information
The CSRD completed four Liquid Waste Management Plans (LWMP) in 2009 and 2010 for Electoral Areas C, E, F (separate LWMP for Seymour Arm). All LWMP's were approved by the CSRD Board of Directors and the Ministry of Environment.
- Electoral Area C Liquid Waste Management Plan (PDF)
- Electoral Area E Liquid Waste Management Plan (PDF)
- Electoral Area F (North Shuswap) Liquid Waste Management Plan (PDF)
- Electoral Area F (Seymour Arm) Liquid Waste Management Plan (PDF)
The LWMP's identify a number of common recommendations including prohibition of effluent discharge to the lake from private sources, ground water monitoring programs and on-site system surveys that target selected areas that are candidates for a community sewer system in the future, and the adoption of policies that enable the CSRD to own and operate new sewer systems (minimum 50 connections) initiated through development. The Sewer System Acquisition Strategy that has been approved by the Board is the implementation of this recommendation. The LWMP's suggested the development of a public education campaign around the encouragement of proper maintenance and inspection of on-site sewer systems. The CSRD launched the Septic Smart program in 2012 and conducted field surveys of on-site systems in select communities.
Additional recommendations included the provision of community sewer systems for the communities of Scotch Creek, Celista, and Anglemont, starting with the community of Scotch Creek. Additionally in Electoral Area C, community sewer systems were identified for Sorrento and Blind Bay. In 2013 the CSRD retained a consultant to review the LWMP's in Scotch Creek and Electoral Area C in order to update costing and determine if lower cost options are available.
Service areas have been established and properties are taxed for the public education, groundwater monitoring, and on-site system surveys. The CSRD has been waiting for grant funding to advance the recommendations for community sewer systems.
The purpose of a Liquid Waste Management Plan is to explore and recommend the most financially and environmentally acceptable solutions to resolve any problems created by existing sewage treatment and disposal systems and to deal with sewage management in future developments.
The planning process includes comprehensive public consultation and input through newsletters, surveys and public meetings.
Reports & Bylaws
Ben Van Nostrand
Team LeaderPhone: 250-833-5940
Environmental Health Services
Phone 250-833-5950


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Story highlights
Hundreds of protesters seize a government building in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine
They declare "People's Republic of Donetsk," call for referendum to secede from Ukraine
Ukrainian military says it won't retake building yet, but acting President warns of prosecutions
Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov accuses Russia of stoking eastern Ukraine tensions
Masked men with metal rods and Molotov cocktails prowl the Russian flag-draped balcony, surveying the crowds below. Stacks of tires topped with ribbons of razor wire line a makeshift barricade around the main entrance.
Two days after smashing their way in, hundreds of protesters have transformed this government building in the industrial city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, into the self-declared "People's Republic of Donetsk."
From the clumsily erected bulwarks to the lack of a leader or concrete plan, the scenes are similar to the pro-European rallies in Kiev's Maidan Square in recent months, with one major difference: Many of these protesters say they want to join Russia and have called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine to be held by May 11.
The protesters who let us into the building are eager to show they are here entirely peacefully, but it is clear they are prepared for a fight. Doors have been locked and stairwells blocked at the top of the building to prevent the Ukrainian military from storming in from above. They've smashed the pavement outside the building to use as stones. A makeshift hospital and temporary cafe have been constructed, and locals are keeping the men and women inside stocked up on food and medical supplies.
Some of the protesters inside the building are happy to see us; others seem ready to attack us with their bats at a moment's notice. Some are aggressively anti-American. One of the older men asks us why Americans are sticking their nose into Ukrainian affairs.
Russia warns of civil war if Ukraine uses force to quell eastern revolts
One man tells us that he's from the Eastern Front, a new local group, and that help is on the way. He says there are 6,000 members of his group who stand ready to "protect the fatherland." Others are hopeful that a vote to secede from Ukraine can be held sooner than protesters announced Monday.
When the power went out Monday night, many inside believed Ukraine's special forces were coming to retake the building. But the Ukrainian military is nowhere to be seen, and the mood of the protesters is growing ever more defiant.
Donetsk is the hometown of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose pro-Russian government was toppled in a popular revolt in February.
Nobody knows for sure what role, if any, Russia is playing in this latest bout of unrest in Ukraine. Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov blames "separatist groups coordinated by Russian special services" for the revolts in eastern Ukraine, which he said echoed events leading to the Russian annexation of Crimea three weeks ago.
Since then, Russia has amassed thousands of troops on its border with eastern Ukraine. And Russia's Foreign Ministry said reports that protesters are facing a crackdown by Ukrainian authorities are of particular concern.
"We are calling for the immediate cessation of any military preparations, which could lead to civil war," it said in a statement on its official website.
Protesters say that local complaints, not Moscow, are driving anti-government sentiments here in Donetsk. One man, who calls himself Andre, says that Ukraine's ongoing political crisis has hit his wages and that he can no longer afford to feed his family. He tells me that he has simply had enough.
Ukrainian officials say they won't storm the building for now. But the acting President says those who have seized buildings will be treated as "terrorists" and prosecuted with the full force of the law.
In the meantime, protesters say they will continue to fortify their makeshift fortress in Donetsk, and their tiny pocket of grievances and whims, despite its size, seems to now be on the front line of a massive struggle for the future of Ukraine.
U.S. Navy ship to arrive in Black Sea by Thursday
Ukraine to Russia: I'm not your child
CNN's Nick Thompson and CNN Wires contributed to this report.


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- Cranial morphology and population history
- Cranial anatomy and population history or climate adaptation
- Drift more important than selection in shaping the human skull
- Reduction of human cranial diversity and distance from Africa
Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2009 Aug 28. [Epub ahead of print]
Climate Signatures in the Morphological Differentiation of Worldwide Modern Human Populations.
Hubbe M, Hanihara T, Harvati K.
The ability of cranial morphology to reflect population/phylogenetic history, and the degree to which it might be influenced by environmental factors and selection pressures have been widely discussed. Recent consensus views cranial morphology as largely indicative of population history in humans, with some anatomical cranial regions/measurements being more informative on population history, while others being under selection pressure. We test earlier findings using the largest and most diverse cranial dataset available as yet: 7,423 male specimens from 135 geographic human population samples represented by 33 standard craniometric linear measurements. We calculated Mahalanobis D(2) for three datasets: complete cranial dataset; facial measurement dataset; and neurocranial measurement dataset; these morphological distance matrices were then compared to matrices of geographic distances as well as of several climatic variables. Additionally, we calculated Fst values for our cranial measurements and compared the results to the expected Fst values for neutral genetic loci. Our findings support the hypothesis that cranial, and especially neurocranial morphology, is phylogenetically informative, and that aspects of the face and cranium are subject to selection related to climatic factors. The Fst analysis suggest that selection to climate is largely restricted to groups living in extremely cold environments, including Northeast Asia, North America, and Northern Europe, though each of these regions appears to have arrived at their morphology through distinct adaptive pathways.